


Day 8: AU

by GemmaRose



Series: Ten Days of Lawlu 2016 [8]
Category: One Piece
Genre: 10 days of LawLu, Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Illnesses, Injury, M/M, Scars
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-06-04
Updated: 2016-06-04
Packaged: 2018-07-12 05:04:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,765
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7086532
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GemmaRose/pseuds/GemmaRose
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The distance between soulmates can weaken a bond, but never break it. With two Ds as soulmates, not even half a world’s separation could stop them from growing up with each other’s scars.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Day 8: AU

Law shivered, pulling his blanket tighter and scooting closer to the fire. Cora-san was a few yards away at the water’s edge, trying to wash soot stains out of his hat. Law hadn’t asked where they came from, he knew well enough what the blond did to hospitals which turned them away. It didn’t change the fact that he was cold, hurt down to his bones, and was so frustrated he wanted to cry. He was dying, he knew it and Cora-san knew it, but Doffy’s brother refused to believe it. Stupid clumsy Cora thought he could find a cure if they looked hard enough, as if Flevance hadn’t been North Blue’s pinnacle of medical science.

A sudden burst of pain jolted Law from his thoughts, and he clapped a hand to his face. “The fuck?!” he yelped, pulling his hand away to see blood. That was the warmth running down his cheek, blood. He was bleeding. Why the fuck was he bleeding?

“Law!” Cora-san came rushing up the slope, tripped over his own feet, and half smothered the campfire with his feathery coat before the damn thing burst into flames. Law barely noticed, because the inexplicable wound under his left eye had been swiftly followed by a feeling not dissimilar to being thrown into a wall and now his body hurt even worse than it had a minute ago.

“Law, are you okay? Where does it hurt?”

Law glared up at the still-smouldering blond, and his angry face seemed to be enough of an answer because Cora-san pulled out their little bag of medical supplies. “Here.” he held out a wad of gauze, which Law accepted and pressed over the bleeding cut. “What happened?”

“I don’t know.” Law looked down at his knees as Cora-san pulled the blanket back up around him. “One second I was just sitting here, and the next I was bleeding.”

“Oh.” Cora-san smiled, carefully folding a new gauze pad since the first was kinda small and already soaking through. Law knew first hand that head wounds bled a lot, that was the sort of thing you learnt pretty quickly travelling with someone as clumsy as Cora-san, but it was still worrying to see just how fast he was losing blood. He didn’t have nearly as much of the stuff in his body as Cora-san did, and despite having been tossed around more than was probably advisable he’d never actually had a wound bleed so much before.

“Law? Law!” Cora-san shook him, pressing the new gauze pad to his cheek. “Law, look at me.”

“I’ll be fine, Cora-san.” Law huffed, using his bloodied hand to hold the new layer of absorbent fabric in place.

“Oh, good.” Cora-san sighed, sitting down. Unfortunately he was still pretty damn close to the campfire, so his coat lit up again. After another minute of both of them yelling and Law throwing snow on Cora’s coat with one hand, the blond managed to sit down without catching fire.

“Let me see it.” he said a few minutes later, and Law peeled the gauze away. The bleeding hadn’t stopped, but it was definitely slowing. “That’s a stab wound.” Cora-san said after a few seconds. “Law, how much do you know about soulmates?”

“Just what they taught us in school.” Law answered automatically. “The closer together you are, the better you can feel what they feel.” his eyes widened. “Did my soulmate get stabbed?”

“The angle is odd.” Cora-san muttered, tilting Law’s head with one hand. “Can you tell how she’s feeling?”

Law shut his eyes and tried to focus on the immaterial place where his soulbond rested. “Proud.” he said after a moment, opening his eyes. That was a weird emotion to be feeling after getting stabbed in the face.

“Thought so.” Cora-san tutted, shaking his head and handing back the gauze. “That’s self-inflicted.”

“What?!”

“Looks like we both have interesting soulmates.” the blond smiled. Law grabbed the roll of gauze and bounced it off of Cora’s head.

“Stupid Cora-san.” he muttered, curling in on himself tighter and using his free hand to hold the blanket around his shoulders. The blond laughed, ruffled his hair, and placed the gauze back in the medical bag. They’d bandage it properly in a bit, once it stopped bleeding.

\---

“What’s wrong with his skin?” the blond boy, Sabo, asked Ace.

“Idunno.” Ace shrugged, pipe bouncing on his shoulder.

“They’re from my soulmate!” Luffy said, smiling wide. Friends told each other stuff like that, right? So if he could keep talking with Ace and Sabo, then they’d be his friends!

“That’s stupid.” Sabo bonked him on the head with his pipe. “Let’s tie him to the tree.”

“Good idea.” Ace grinned.

-

“Hey, Luffy.”

“Yeah?” Luffy looked up from the bug fight he’d staged on an upside down bucket. Sabo had gotten out of the water and was now sitting on a rock, looking at him.

“What did you mean about your spots being from your soulmate?”

Luffy grinned, lifting a hand to touch the big one that went up the right side of his neck and covered a good chunk of his cheek. “They’re from my soulmate.” he said, because Sabo had sounded like he didn’t much believe Luffy about that. “She got sick really bad, and I got all these pale bits.”

“Lucky.” Ace grunted, flicking his wrist and skipping a rock twice on the river’s surface.

“Lucky?” Luffy frowned, tilting his head. How was it lucky that his soulmate had been sick and miserable for most of his life?

“If you’ve got those spots, then so does your soulmate.” Ace said, gesturing blindly as he looked for another skipping stone. “You’ve got those spots, Sabo’s got that burn.”

“Brand.” Sabo corrected. “It’s not a random shape, so it must be a brand.”

“Well then, you’ll get along with your soulmate just fine.” Ace grinned, picking up a pebble and flicking it at Sabo. “She’s gotta be a criminal like us.”

“Yeah.” Sabo sighed, a stupid expression taking over his face. Luffy picked up one the bugs he’d been watching fight, and threw it at his big brother. It hit Sabo, and the blond fell flailing into the water.

“Luffy!” he yelled when he came back up. Ace was wheezing with laughter, but yelped when Sabo came charging out of the water at him.

“I didn’t do anything!” he protested, still laughing. Luffy laughed too, and ran over to join the fight. His destined best friend had spots that matched his, which would make it really easy to tell who it was, but they were far away and his brothers were right here.

\---

“Straw Hat-ya.”

Luffy looked up, and Law steeled himself for a conversation which he’d been putting off since, well, Marineford if he was being honest. He could’ve gone and found Luffy on Amazon Lily, could’ve strengthened their bond and comforted him, but instead he had left as soon as he reasonably could. He’d avoided it again on Punk Hazard, telling himself it was to spare Luffy the pain of losing a bound soulmate when he inevitably fought Doflamingo. But now Doflamingo was dead and gone, and they were both still alive.

“We should talk.”

“Okay.” Luffy looked back at the ocean, and took one hand off the fishing rod to pat the railing at his side. “What about?”

“Our names.”

Luffy looked back up so fast it would’ve given anyone else whiplash, a brilliant smile on his face. “Torao wants to trade names?”

“Yes.” Law sat on the railing, heels resting on the deck. “But your nickname doesn’t work, so you’ll have to get my name right.”

“But your name is haaard.” Luffy whined.

“It’s really not.” Law frowned. “Tra-fal-gar.”

“Why don’t I just call you Law?” Luffy asked, crossing his arms.

For most of his life, Law had thought of the immaterial space behind his sternum like a light bulb. It flickered with his soulmate’s emotions, giving impressions of joy or rage or crushing sorrow, though the last had happened so few times Law could count them on one hand. But as Luffy said his name, his given name, it was like that little light bulb exploded, shedding thick dim glass to reveal a bright brilliant little sun.

The emotions coming through would be indistinguishable from his own, except there was an undeniable undercurrent of joy and love, two emotions Law felt very little of. “Wow.” he breathed, suddenly very glad he was sitting on the railing because if he’d been standing he probably would’ve fallen on his ass. If this was how Luffy felt, he almost didn’t want to return the bond. Luffy wouldn’t get a burst of joy and love, and he didn’t deserve anything less than that.

“Torao?” Luffy had one hand over his, and Law forced himself to take a full breath and hold it for a second before exhaling. The initial starburst was fading, leaving a brilliant little spot of warmth in Law’s chest. The bond was seeping concern, and he shook his head firmly.

“I’m fine. Just-” he pressed a hand over the spot where he could feel a little piece of Luffy’s soul, Luffy’s _life_. “Wow.”

“I know.” Luffy grinned, rubbing at his chest. “I was really confused at first, but Old Man Ray told me I was feeling Torao.”

“What?” Law frowned. He hadn’t bonded Luffy yet, had never called him anything by anything but his epithet specifically to avoid that.

Luffy shrugged. “Jinbe thinks it happened on your ship.”

Law thought back to those tense days sailing away from Marineford, the conversation he’d had with Jinbe when the fishman first woke up. He’d acknowledged ‘Straw Hat Luffy’ as his soulmate then, and Luffy _had_ been in the room... “I think it did.” he muttered, recalling how Luffy’s heart monitor had started speeding up after he said that. “You were asleep, but I had you on a painkiller drip instead of a sedative drip, so you may have been aware enough for it to count.” he looked up from the deck and locked eyes with Luffy. “Why didn’t you say anything?”

Luffy looked out over the ocean, a more thoughtful expression on his face than Law had ever thought to see. “Torao was all sad and angry. I wanted to make Torao happy first.”

Law could feel the truth of those words, could feel the love which carried them. It took his breath away, and Luffy grinned. “Torao’s happy now.”

“Yeah.” Law said after a moment, relishing the warmth of Luffy’s’ hand wrapped protectively around his. “I am.”


End file.
